Pompeo’s North Korea Trip ‘Better Than the Last Time’

While US officials aren’t providing a lot of details yet on the visit, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s visit to North Korea went “better than the last time,” according to officials. The unnamed officials cited “progress,” and said that more progress is needed going forward.

Pompeo’s last visit to North Korea was a lot less friendly, with both sides issuing statements expressing tensions afterwards, and North Korean officials suggesting that Pompeo had made gangster-like demands. A subsequently planned visit was abruptly cancelled.

This time, North Korea seems to agree that things went much better, saying Pompeo and Kim had a more positively-toned discussion, and had agreed to have a working meeting on the next Trump-Kim summit very soon.

Exactly what was being discussed was not largely reported by either side, with a focus on denuclearization previously expected. Both sides generally expressed satisfaction with how it went, and hoped for more in talks to come.

One thought on “Pompeo’s North Korea Trip ‘Better Than the Last Time’”

Their new-found ability to sit down and not blow everything up truly is a big step forward. Of course “productive progress” leaves open the question of “towards what”? De-escalation, de-nuclearization, and a peace declaration are all the obvious answers to that.